gains; they would not refuse to pay his just and equitable debts, even when they are not legally responsible for them. Here is a debt of the most urgent nature, by paying which they may perhaps make happy for ever many of the instruments of their own prosperity. Surely it is their bounden duty, even if they have no longer any share in the business by which their fathers were enriched, to repair, so far as they are able, some of the evil which it has produced.

In such works the large offerings of the rich will be even better spent than in swelling the funds of our societies. Happy that man, who shall set the example (so much needed) of providing a church and a pastor wherever he erects a factory, a street, or a village: happy two or three or more, who shall combine to do so! besides discharging themselves of a plain moral obligation, such men will be, by the influence of their example, among the greatest benefactors of their country.

And blessed be God for His grace given unto us, we are not wholly without such examples already. Of our new churches, some have been the fruit of individual exertion and self-denial. How should it be otherwise? God's word shall never return unto Him void; and that word has of late been more and more spoken among us. Still we must not yet be content: we must look for greater things. Such examples, although now less rare, have never been wanting, and the

time shall come (we may not doubt it) when they shall yet be multiplied tenfold. The few big drops which are falling here and there are the harbingers surely of an abundant shower. Let us unite our prayers that it may be so; and to our prayers let us add our endeavours to engage others in the work. Let us not be content to give our money alone, but in our several measures let us do what we can, with our influence, our time, our talents; for all are God's, and all to be employed in His cause.

SECTION IV.

THE DUTY OF EMPLOYING OUR INFLUENCE AND POLITICAL POWER ON BEHALF OF THE CHURCH.

AMONG those who are bound to exert their influence for the benefit of their benighted countrymen, the clergy of course demand the first place. Their gifts, no doubt, if estimated by the rule of our Lord, already far exceed, as they should, those of all other orders: but the more irksome task of exciting others to a liberal and self-denying bounty, has been comparatively neglected. In pressing the claims of the Church, the clergy cannot but feel the embarrassment of appearing to speak for their own order, if not for their own interest; and their difficulty is in some respects the greater, because in worldly rank and position they are the equals of those whose selfishness they are required to reprove. All these are impediments: but they must be disregarded, and God's word must be spoken without fear and without favour, by him who will discharge his trust. Indeed, when we consider the great and peculiar danger of the rich, and how seldom an unwelcome truth reaches

their ears anywhere but in church, it seems the special duty of every pastor, to whose care any of them are committed, to be strenuous in inculcating the snare and deceitfulness of riches, and the great account to be rendered by those to whom much is given. How earnestly does St. Paul exhort his son Timothy, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy1." He must not content himself with exhorting them to do good, as he adds in the next verse, 66 richly, readily, willingly," but must solemnly remind them of their peculiar danger-that of trusting in riches. He must

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warn, exhort, rebuke them with all authority." May there not be some pastors who have fulfilled their duty to the poor, but who have reason to fear lest, in the day of account, the rich of their flock should rise up against and condemn them, for having left them alone unwarned??

As regards the laity, one most important ser'vice, which they can perform at the present moment, is that of ascertaining and making known the actual state of things. Until lately, it was hardly known that any considerable want of

11 Timothy vi. 17.

2 It is instructive to observe how strongly and keenly the rich are warned of their peculiar danger in the authorized English homily "Of Alms-deeds," and yet more in those of St. Chrysostom.

churches existed. This is no longer the case: but much still requires to be made known. We want (as has been suggested) accurate statistical reports of our existing churches, and of the needs of our population. A layman who has any leisure, would be most usefully employed in collecting and making public these facts. It is a debt of justice to acknowledge the great service which has been rendered, not to Scotland only but to England, by the labours of one Glasgow layman, Mr. Collins. His pamphlet, called "Statistics of Glasgow Church Accommodation," has done more probably towards making known the dreadful state of irreligion in which the neglected thousands of our town population are actually lying, than any other work. He has refuted the confident assertions, that the dissenters do for the poor what the Church does for the rich; and that the poor are excluded from the house of God only because they will not come : he has laid bare the monstrous features of the case, by a plain statement of facts. Such a book (modified of course in many particulars) is necessary before we can rightly estimate the state of Birmingham or Liverpool, and even of large parts of London. We want to know how many families in each street or district regularly attend any church-how many go sometimes-how many never-and then, how many are in conscious separation from the church? thus we could calculate the actual numbers who are deserted by